The political sop Obama threw to filthy stinking rich coastal environmentalists is discussed in this Wall Street Journal editorial. The piece notes that some vulnerable Democratic Senators, Louisiana's own Mary Landrieu among them, are less than thrilled with Obama's unilateral bombing of the U.S. economy.

It would be wonderful to think Landrieu opposed Obama's fiat because she recognizes it as bad policy; and perhaps she does. The much more likely reason Landrieu is at least making noise against it is because of the November elections.

Just across our border, in Mississippi, another senatorial contest is apparently headed to a runoff with the Tea Party challenger the favorite over long-time incumbent Thad Cochran. State Republican Sen. Chris McDaniel came within a whisker of knocking Cochran out without a runoff.

The race may not be that much of a harbinger. Cochran, 76, has been around seemingly forever - he was first elected in 1978 - and routinely won re-election with more than 60 percent of the vote. But his has been a bumpy campaign, marred by questions about whether he's hitting on all cylinders mentally, while McDaniel, 42, has the momentum.

Two things do jump out, however. One is the gleeful Tea Party obituaries may have been premature. Coupled with Ben Sasse's outright victory in Nebraska, candidates backed by the Tea Party have proved a match for conservatives backed by the GOP's traditional brokers in some races.

The second interesting thing is that we are likely to now see a Mississippi Republican and a Louisiana Democrat running very similar campaigns between now and November.

Neither Cochran nor Landrieu back Obama's carbon emissions power grab, and both Cochran and Landrieu are veterans who will push the same message: pork, baby, pork.

Oddly enough, both Louisiana and Mississippi feature serious challengers striving to convince voters along conservative liens. In Louisiana, Landrieu's top challenger (according to the polls) Rep. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, is someone with a solidly conservative voting record who nevertheless faces some skepticism among more hardcore conservative voters.

Meanwhile, Mississippi Democrats hope they may finally be competitive by running a pro-life, pro-gun candidate in state lawmaker Travis Childers.